


Catching Up

by eponine119



Category: Lost
Genre: Gen, References to Canonical Character Death, background Sawyer/Juliet, obviously this didn't happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:41:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28319868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eponine119/pseuds/eponine119
Summary: They're going home. A conversation between Ben and Juliet on the Ajira plane
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Catching Up

Catching Up  
by eponine119  
November 5, 2020

It's only once the Ajira plane is safely airborne that they have the chance to look around. To see who else is there. Who made it. There aren't many of them. Not enough. 

James is asleep beside her, having just about fretted himself into a coma. Juliet's hand aches from where he gripped it during the takeoff. His grip is loosened now, in sleep, but he hasn't let go and she won't slip away. 

Juliet nods at Miles, who nods back, an entire conversation in a gesture. They'll talk later, compare stories. There will be plenty of time. It's a long flight to... wherever it is they're going. 

Richard doesn't notice her looking at him. Kate and Claire are whispering to each other. She knew they had made it off the island, because they were with her and James. 

Ben sits down in the seat beside her. “Juliet,” he says, drawn out and expectantly. It turns her stomach and she feels cold all over. She must have lost her touch, and lets her reaction show on her face, because he says, “Come on now, is that any way to greet an old friend? Has it really been three years?” 

“Hello, Ben,” she says coolly. Three years and apparently she's still afraid of him. Of what he'll do. She holds James's hand a little bit tighter. She will not let Ben hurt him. She'll kill Ben with her bare hands first. She wonders if Ben's disappointed to see her, since she's finally getting what she wanted and what he always denied her. His only power over her. She's going home. 

He looks at her hand, holding James's. “I can't believe you ended up with him. Sawyer.” He looks at her, a little flippantly. “At least he reads.” 

“What have you been doing the last three years, Ben?” she asks. 

“Oh, you know. This and that.” 

Murders and manipulation, she thinks. The usual. His usual.

“I swore revenge on the man who killed my daughter,” he says. “And now I've accomplished my goal.” 

“I am so sorry about Alex,” Juliet says, heartfelt, and he flinches at her name, even now, after all this time. She looks at him, deeply, and wonders if he has changed. He must have, in some way. 

“Thank you,” he says, and it's genuine. But then that fades away and he's back to the man that she's used to. The one who she doesn't trust. “I don't know what I'll do with myself now.” 

“Do something good,” Juliet says, impulsively. “You should. You've got a second chance at life. Or a third.” She thinks of him, so painfully young, bleeding out under her unskilled hands. It was just a few days ago for her, but it feels like a lifetime. 

He looks surprised by this suggestion. “Perhaps I will,” he says. He looks at James again. “You don't have to worry about me, you know.” 

She looks back at Ben uneasily, her heart starting up that jackrabbit beat again because there's nowhere for her to run. 

“I think I've finally gotten over you,” he says. He looks at her openly and she just feels horrified. She doesn't know what to say. In the old days, this would have been a threat. “I mean it, Juliet,” he says. “Maybe I just... don't need you anymore. Maybe I never did. Maybe it was something else entirely.” 

“What are you talking about?” she asks, her voice low. 

“I remembered something. About my childhood. On the island. Something I had forgotten. It came back to me, when we were in the old Dharma barracks, looking at the pictures on the walls.” 

They're on a stolen airplane having taken off from a hidden island. A week ago, for her, it was 1977. Juliet isn't sure why she feels like time travel has to be kept a secret between them. But she doesn't want to acknowledge it or discuss it. Maybe it's being faced with him as an adult and knowing that they saved his life when he was a child, and he never knew. 

Ben looks at her for a long time and she stares right back stubbornly because she'll be damned if she lets him know she's afraid. “Give my best to Sawyer,” he says, and then he leaves her alone. 

James opens his eyes once Ben is gone. She knew he was listening. “That was weird, right?” he says, shifting in his seat to sit up straighter. 

“Yeah,” she agrees, and lays her head against James's shoulder. He puts his arm around her and presses a soft kiss into her hair. That's all it takes; she feels safe again. 

“You regret it?” he asks her. 

There's so many things he could mean. But she says, “No,” because it covers them all. And then her breath catches with a sudden realization of joy. “I'm going home,” she says. “We're going home.” 

(end)


End file.
